AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the field of LED (light emitting diode) light fixtures and, more particularly, to secondary lenses for such fixtures for directing light from LED light sources, and, still more particularly, to polymeric secondary lensing members for LED light fixtures.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a need for lighting apparatus for a variety of general lighting purposes which is low-cost and energy-efficient. LED light sources are energy-efficient, and advances in LED technology are providing even greater efficiencies over time. One important aspect of LED light fixtures is the so-called secondary lensing that directs light received from LED light sources. As used herein, the term "LED light source" refers to an LED or a small grouping of LEDs alone, or more typically to what is referred to as an LED package - namely, an LED (or small grouping of LEDs) with a what is referred to as a primary lens formed thereon. Secondary lenses, which receive and direct light from LED light sources, are of significant importance to LED light fixtures in many ways.

Secondary lenses play a major role, of course, in the direction of light from a light fixture, and so determine to the degree and spread of illumination, and overall optical efficiency. The forming and shaping of secondary lenses are typically important considerations with respect to the usefulness of an LED fixture, and play a significant role in overall product cost. Improvements in secondary lensing members, their optical capabilities, and their manufacture are important considerations in the field of LED light fixtures.

LED light fixtures for a wide variety of both specific and general lighting applications typically have a plurality of LED light sources, usually positioned in spaced relationship to one another on a board (e.g., a circuit board), and a secondary lens is aligned with each LED light source. Such secondary lenses are in some cases part of a one-piece optical member that has a plurality of secondary lens portions each surrounded by and interconnected by a non-lens portion. Improvements in such multi- secondary-lens members, the optical capabilities of the secondary lens portions, and the manufacture of such members are important considerations in the field of LED light fixtures. More specifically, speed (and therefore cost) and accuracy of manufacture are particularly important considerations.

With the rapid development of high-performance LED lighting fixtures for a wide variety of general and specific lighting tasks and with the varying requirements for secondary lensing in such fixtures, there is a need for a system which enables quick and accurate manufacture of one-piece optical members each having different requirements for their secondary-lens portions.

It would be beneficial to provide secondary lensing, one-piece multi-lens optical members, and LED light fixtures which are low in cost as well as highly accurate in directing LED light, and which contribute to the overall economy and efficiency of LED light fixtures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an improved one-piece optical member, secondary lensing, and LED light fixtures with such secondary lensing, as well as a method of manufacturing such one-piece optical members. These address the above-noted needs, concerns and considerations and serve to improve product quality and efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs of high-performance LED light fixtures.

One aspect of this invention is an improved LED light fixture of the type including (a) a heat-sink structure having a mounting surface, (b) a circuit board that is on the mounting surface and has a plurality of LED light sources spaced thereon, and (c) a one-piece optical member over the circuit board and having a plurality of secondary lenses thereon each for alignment with a corresponding one of the light sources. In the improved LED light fixture, the one-piece optical member comprises: each of the lenses having at least one layer of a polymeric material, which polymeric material extends into a lens flange of such material that surrounds the lens and is spaced from the lens flanges that surround adjacent lenses; and a polymeric carrier portion surrounding the lenses, overlapping with and molded onto to the lens flanges across such overlapping, and extending laterally therefrom to a peripheral edge portion.

In certain embodiments, the at least one lens layer is of a first polymeric material and the carrier is of a second polymeric material. In some embodiments, the first polymeric material is an acrylic and the second polymeric material is a

polycarbonate. In some other embodiments, the at least one lens layer and the carrier are of the same polymeric material.

In some embodiments, each lens has at least two layers of polymeric material. And, in some of such embodiments, at least two of the lens layers are of the same polymeric material - e.g., an acrylic.

In other embodiments, at least two of the lens layers are of the different polymeric materials. In some of such embodiments, one of the lens layers is an acrylic and at least one other lens layer is of a cured liquid silicone resin (LSR). In some of these embodiments, the lens layer of an LSR material is the innermost layer. Use of an LSR later as the innermost layer tends to allows excellent precision in the intended light-directing functions of the lens portions of the unitary optic member, even while providing time- and cost-related manufacturing advantages.

In certain embodiments of this invention, each of the lenses has three layers has three layers of polymeric material. The layers may be of the same polymeric material, or may be different. The innermost polymeric layer may be an LSR material.

In the multi-layer lenses in this invention, each lens defines a lens optical footprint and at least one of the layers in each lens may be less than coextensive with the lens optical footprint. As used herein, the term "lens optical footprint" means the largest light-passage area within the lens and orthogonal to the axis of the light source. In embodiments in which one of the layers is less than coextensive with the lens optical footprint cases, another of the layers may include a flange extending beyond the lens optical footprint.

Another aspect of this invention is a one-piece optical member of the type described above as a member of an LED light fixture.

Still another aspect of this invention is a method for manufacturing a one- piece optical member having plural spaced lenses. The method comprises the steps of: providing a plurality of lenses each of which has at least one layer of a polymeric material extending into a lens flange of such material that surrounds the lens; placing the plurality of lenses in spaced positions of a mold for injection molding; injection molding a polymeric carrier portion of the one-piece optical member such that the carrier portion surrounds the lenses, overlaps and is molded onto to the lens flanges across such overlapping, and extends laterally therefrom to a peripheral edge portion.

In some embodiments of the method, the lenses have at least one lens layer of a first polymeric material which material extends into the lens flanges and the carrier is of a second polymeric material. In some of such embodiments, the first polymeric material is an acrylic and the second polymeric material is a polycarbonate.

In some embodiments of the method, the step of providing a plurality of lenses further includes selecting lenses from a group of lenses having different optical properties. The group of lenses may include subgroups, which flanged lenses of each subgroup having the same optical properties but with optical properties differing from group to group. The selecting steps may include selecting lenses all of which have the same optical properties.

In certain embodiments, the flanges of each of the lenses has an indexing feature and the step of placing the lenses in spaced positions further includes angularly orienting the lenses in the mold with the indexing features.

As used herein in referring to the optical member with its plurality of spaced, flanged secondary lenses, the term "one-piece" means that the portions of the carrier portion which surround the lenses and overlap the lens flanges are overmolded onto such lens flanges such that the layer-to-layer interface is bonded in the overmolding process; and, for those optical members of this invention for which the lenses have plural layers, the layer-to-layer interfaces are bonded in overmolding as well.

As used herein, the term "innermost layer" refers to the layer farthest from the LED light source, or at least the last layer through which light from such light source passes. And the term "outermost layer" refers to the layer closest to the LED light source, or at least the first layer through which light from such light source passes. In descriptions of this invention, including in the claims below, the terms "comprising," "including" and "having" (each in their various forms) and the term "with" are each to be understood as being open-ended, rather than limiting, terms. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an LED light fixture having two one-piece optical members, such fixture and optical members being in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 1 A is a perspective view of a one-piece optical member of the LED lighting fixture of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE IB is an enlarged cross-sectional perspective view of one portion of the one-piece optical member of FIGURE 1A, illustrating one secondary lens.

FIGURE 1C is a perspective view illustrating the positioning of secondary lenses as placed in injection-molding apparatus. The injection-molding apparatus is not shown in FIGURE 1 C .

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one such one-piece optical member, showing its light-output side.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of such optical member, but showing its light- input side.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of such optical member.

FIGURE 5 is a side sectional view taken along section 5-5 as indicated in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an end sectional view taken along section 6-6 as indicated in FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the three individual lenses of the one-piece optical member arranged as they would be in a mold prior to the polymeric carrier portion being injection molded onto the lens flanges, to complete the one-piece optical member.

FIGURE 8 is a central cross-sectional view of the lens of an alternative embodiment, such alternative lens having three layers. FIGURE 9 is an exploded perspective view of the lens of FIGURE 18, serving to illustrate the shapes of the layers of such lens.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS FIGURES 1 and 1A-1C illustrate an LED lighting fixture 10 in accordance with this invention. LED light fixture 10 includes a heat-sink structure 12 that has a mounting surface 12A on which a circuit board 14 is mounted. Circuit board 14 has a plurality of LED light sources 14A spaced thereon. A one-piece optical member 16 is positioned over circuit board 14 and has a plurality of secondary lenses 20 thereon, each for alignment with a corresponding one of light sources 14 A.

In the improved LED light fixture, each of lenses 20 of one-piece optical member 16 has a layer 22 of polymeric material, which polymeric material extends into a lens flange 24 of such material that surrounds lens 20 and is spaced from lens flanges 24 that surround adjacent lenses 20. One-piece optical member 16 also has a polymeric carrier portion 26 surrounding lenses 20. Carrier portion 26 overlaps with and is molded onto to lens flanges 24 across such overlapping, and carrier portion 26 extending laterally therefrom to a peripheral edge portion 28. FIGURE IB best illustrates the above-described characteristics.

The polymeric material of lens 20, i.e., the material of outer layer 22 and flange 24, is an acrylic, while the polymeric material of carrier portion 26 is a polycarbonate. A wide variety of optical-grade acrylics can be used, and are available from various sources, including: Mitsubishe Rayon America, Inc.; Arkema Group; and Evonik Cyro LLC. Likewise, a wide variety of polycarbonate materials can be used, and are available from various sources, such as Bayer and Sabic.

FIGURE 1C illustrates the positioning of secondary lenses 20 as placed in injection-molding apparatus (not shown). After such placement, carrier portion 26 is injection molded onto lens flanges 24 to form one-piece optical member 16. As already indicated, carrier portion 26 surrounds lenses 20 and overlaps and is molded onto to lens flanges 24. FIGURES 2-7 illustrate aspects of an alternative one-piece optical member 16A which has three lenses 20 and a carrier portion 26A. The only significant difference between one-piece optical members 16 and 16A is the number of lenses.

FIGURE 7, as with FIGURE 1C, illustrates the positioning of secondary lenses 20 as placed in injection-molding apparatus. Accurate placement into the injection- molding apparatus is facilitated by indexing features in the form of posts 30 (see FIGURES 2, 4 and 5) which extend from lens flange 24 and mate with corresponding recesses in the mold. (FIGURES 1A and IB also show such indexing feature.)

FIGURES 8 and 9 illustrate an alternative lens 40 which is a multi-layer lens. Lens 40 has three layers, including an innermost layer 42, an outermost layer 44, and an intermediate layer 46. The layer shapes are illustrated in the FIGURE 14 exploded view. As seen well in FIGURES 8 and 9, lens 40 has an optical footprint, referred to above, and innermost layer 42 is less than coextensive with the lens optical footprint. Outermost layer 44 of lens 40 includes a flange 48 extending beyond the optical footprint of lens 40.

The layers of each pair of adjacent layers of lens 40 are joined together permanently at their interface by overmolding. Lens 40 may be formed by a series of injection-molding steps. For example, innermost layer 42 is first formed by injection molding. Then, at the next injection-molding station, intermediate layer 46 is overmolded with innermost layer 42. And then, at a third injection-molding station, outermost layer 44 is overmolded onto the previously overmolded layers.

The layers of lens 40 may be of the same or differing polymeric materials. And injection-moldable materials may be chosen having different indices of refraction. One or more of the lens layers may be an acrylic and at least one other lens layer may be of an LSR material. In particular, the innermost lens layer may be an LSR material.

While the principles of this invention have been described in connection with specific embodiments, it should be understood clearly that these descriptions are made only by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.